The telecommunications market has seen tremendous change since the passage of the 1996 Telecom Reform act. This change slowed somewhat during the early part of this decade but with the economy back in high gear, change is accelerating. The wireless market appears to be one of the recipients of this improvement. Over the past few years, over 4 billion minutes have left the fixed networks and moved onto the wireless networks. Many analysts feel this trend will not only continue, but accelerate, with the advent of new technologies that will level the playing field between fixed and wireless.
Adding complexity to this equation, over 20-million households in America now have broadband connectivity. The penetration rates in other parts of the world are even higher. For example, Korea has over a 50% penetration rate for broadband. With the advent of broadband, the much-ballyhooed arrival of the low cost, fully featured VoIP telephony services finally seems to be coming to fruition. Comcast Cable plans to have VoIP available to half of its subscribers by the end of 2005 and the rest by the completion of 2006. AT&T, with its VoIP offering, is challenging upstarts such as Vonage to roll out very low cost phone service using the broadband connection. Recent regulatory issues in the US will most likely accelerate this trend. With the courts invalidating the FCC rules on wholesale, many of the companies like MCI and AT&T that are leasing the RBOCs local lines to provide their own branded service, are contemplating exiting the local POTS business. Yet they are keenly aware that they need to offer their customers bundled services that will drive them to VoIP over broadband.
Despite all these advances in the telecom world, consumers still maintain separate phone numbers and, most often, a fixed and mobile line. This in part has been the catalyst in driving up the amount consumers spend on telecom costs. While there is a significant trend amongst a younger generation to abandon a landline (eight million at the end of 2003 relied solely on their mobile phone), many consumers are looking for ways to reduce their telecom costs and simplify their communications. While wireless seems to be gaining the upper hand, the wireless carriers still have some challenges to confront. In order to provide better service, carriers deploy additional network infrastructure to meet the growing needs of the increased user population and traffic. Complicating this challenge is the burden incurred from the acquisition of the 3G licenses, which have put many of the wireless carriers in difficult financial positions. In an effort to capture more customers and improve service, carriers have been exploring new ways to deliver service in those areas that have been hard to reach.
The most prominent of these hard to reach areas is often times the home or small business premise. The use of the mobile phone has increased dramatically over the past 4 years and home use now accounts for over 20% of the usage. Yet, many consumers still find it inconvenient or not reliable enough to consider utilizing the mobile phone as the exclusive home communications device. Consider the following issues that have been identified for users of mobile phones in the home or small business:                Reception is spotty and often consumers are compelled to move to that “one good spot” for clear reception in the home/office.        The mobile phone is frequently sitting in a cradle or other charger while in the home, and therefore cannot be transported while being charged.        The ergonomics of the mobile phone are not as pleasing as the traditional corded/cordless phones for the home and office.        One often cannot hear the mobile phone ring since it is located in another room or left in an auto.        Many minutes go unused due to the inconvenience of the mobile phone, thus increasing the incremental cost of telecom usage.        
Consequently, many mobile subscribers use the landline at home and leave many of the minutes on their mobile phone unused and under-utilize the “free” minutes after hours or on weekends.
The rapid evolution of the wireless market place has accelerated with the advent of the “free” bandwidth spectrum. Wi-Fi®, Bluetooth®, Wi-Max and others have capitalized on this spectrum to offer consumers new approaches to access the Internet. The proliferation of mobile phones has finally surpassed the number of fixed lines in the world. This majority will continue to grow over the next several years as the youngest generation matures within the culture of the wireless revolution. Many consumers also are looking to have a single “identity” unrelated to the device of their choosing, from which they can communicate.
A problem for telecommunications consumers generally is accommodating innovation in an “un-tethered” world while maintaining the quality, reliability and convenience that many consumers have come to expect with the fixed networks.
What would be useful are means to provide the consumer or small business owners the ability to leverage their investment in their mobile technology and usage by interconnecting telecommunications devices using different transmission media. Such means would provide telecommunications devices using wireless protocols, such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, to provide connectivity to wired or wireless telecommunications devices.